Switzerland knocks US off top spot in competitiveness league
The US has been knocked off the top spot in a closely watched annual ranking of competitiveness, falling to sixth place while being overtaken by Switzerland, three Nordic countries and Singapore.
Growing economic imbalances and a relative lack of efficiency and transparency in US public institutions marked the country downin this year's league tableby the World Economic Forum. Also falling fast in the table was France, which declined from 12th spot to 18th, on the back of relatively weak scores for its macroeconomy, its institutions and the efficiency of its markets.
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The WEF's ranking is one of the more significant measurements of countries' economic potential since it aggregates an extensive number of different indicators to arrive at its overall score.
The ranking had been heavily revised for 2006-07, the WEF said, incorporating many new indicators of competitiveness and improving its accuracy as a guide to the medium and long-term economic performance of different countries.
But small changes in the position in the league, such as Britain's decline from ninth to 10th, do not reflect a serious worsening of competitiveness, since the difference in countries ranked close to each other is minor.
They are extremely sensitive to the weight given to different criteria by the Swiss-based think-tank.
The forum praised Britain's institutions and the efficiency of its product and labour markets, while claiming that its innovation and sophistication of companies were not as good as countries such as Germany.
Augusto Lopez-Claros, the lead author of the WEF's competitiveness index, said the rankings were most useful in spotting big changes in countries' overall scores and identifying trends over time.
The current fashion for the fast-growing emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China did not bear very close scrutiny, he said. Russia's position fell to 62 from 53 last year on the back of concerns about its institutions.
In spite of a good economic performance on the back of high oil prices, "you have to buy justice", Mr Lopez-Claros said, which makes it a very difficult place to locate business.
China's fall from 48 to 54 represented extreme difficulties with protecting intellectual property rights, while Brazil's economy was judged as fragile.
Even though Swiss economic performance has been far from stellar in recent years, with some of the lowest growth rates in Europe, the WEF justified the country's ranking at the top of the table as reflecting "a combination of a world class capacity for innovation and a highly sophisticated business culture".
*Women account for fewer than one in 10 board members and just four chief executives out of 300 bosses in the world's biggest listed companies, according to research published yesterday, writes Delphine Strauss in Paris.
The top 100 North American companies by market capitalisation employ twice as many women on their board or executive committee - at 16 per cent - as their European counterparts, and eight times as many as those in Asia, the study by consultants Ricol, Lasteyrie & Associés found.
2006全球竞争力排行榜揭晓
在备受关注的世界经济论坛(World Economic Forum)年度竞争力排行榜中，美国的排名从第1位跌至第6位，落在瑞士、北欧三国和新加坡之后。
经济失衡状况日益严重，公共机构相对缺乏效率和透明度，成为导致美国今年排名下滑的原因。
排名迅速下滑的还有法国，从第12位降至第18位，原因在于其宏观经济、机构和市场效率的得分相对较低。
世界经济论坛的排行榜，是衡量各国经济潜力的较重要指标之一，因为它在计算总分时综合了大量不同的指标。
总部位于瑞士的世界经济论坛表示，已对2006-07年度排行榜进行了大规模修订，纳入了许多新的竞争力指标，提高了其作为各国中长期经济表现指针的准确度。
但名次的微小变化（如英国从第九位降至第十位），并不说明竞争力明显下降，因为排名接近的国家彼此之间的差别很小。世界经济论坛对不同指标赋予的权重，会严重影响排名状况。
世界经济论坛赞扬了英国的机构和产品及劳动力市场效率，但同时表示，英国企业的创新和精湛程度不及德国等国家。
世界经济论坛竞争力指数的主要编制者奥古斯都?洛佩斯-克劳克斯(Augusto Lopez-Claros)表示，排行榜最有用之处在于，可以察看各国总分的明显变化，了解长期趋势。
他表示，当前人们喜欢将一切都与巴西、俄罗斯、印度和中国等增长迅速的新兴市场挂钩，但这种做法经不起密切关注。
出于对俄罗斯机构的严重担忧，该国排名从去年的第53位降至第62位。洛佩斯-克劳克斯表示，尽管油价高企让俄罗斯经济有了不俗表现，但“你必须用钱买来公正”，使企业难以在该国立足。
中国的排名从第48位降至第54位，反映出该国在保护知识产权方面遇到极大困难，而巴西经济则得到“脆弱”的评价。
